This is a discussion on Manual vs Auto within the New Member Hangout forums, part of the Community - Meet other Enthusiasts category; Originally Posted by Fieldy72233
Do a search for speedette's topic. She is going throug the samething. I learned in stop ...

Do a search for speedette's topic. She is going throug the samething. I learned in stop and go traffic, proly not to good for the car, but a traffic jam on the way home.

Bottom line - Get a stick

Well since I was mentioned twice in this thread guess I'll chime in my $.02

1. Get a manual. Period. I couldn't even test drive my WRX or drive it home the day I bought it but I didn't care, everyone told me I would regret not getting a Manual! I definitely would have!

2. The WRX was actually a very easy car to learn on contrary to popular belief. If you start with something easier the WRX will seem that much harder. Sure you'll stall a bit, but with practice you'll be clutching and shifting like a pro. People who think the WRX was hard should try driving a 6speed vette! The first manual I actually ever tried to drive. No way...

3. I've had my car a little over 3 months now. I bought it on a Thursday night and after a little practice was able to drive it to and from work in rush hour traffic on Monday. Sure I stalled every now and then for the first month. But now I"m a pro. And I can barely drive an automatic tranny now!

4. As for your dad's concerns: With a manual car you are actually "driving" a car....not only do you have more control over what the car does but you also are much much much more alert when driving!!!

Just take your time learning and practicing (patiently!), and it helps if you have a friend who drives stick that can ride with you and give you pointers!

Go with stick. I'm learning to drive stick on my WRX for about a week now and i've been getting better every time I go and drive. I've drove old Hondas and Toyotas many years ago, so I'm basically starting from the bottom. It's frustrating and embarrassing when you stall but once you get it down, it's pretty rewarding. I'm far from being pro but i'm getting better, it just takes practice. One problem I have, is that I tend to psyche myself out on a complete stop before going into first gear (which often causes me to stall), I think about too much instead of just doing it.

Well since I was mentioned twice in this thread guess I'll chime in my $.02

1. Get a manual. Period. I couldn't even test drive my WRX or drive it home the day I bought it but I didn't care, everyone told me I would regret not getting a Manual! I definitely would have!

2. The WRX was actually a very easy car to learn on contrary to popular belief. If you start with something easier the WRX will seem that much harder. Sure you'll stall a bit, but with practice you'll be clutching and shifting like a pro. People who think the WRX was hard should try driving a 6speed vette! The first manual I actually ever tried to drive. No way...

3. I've had my car a little over 3 months now. I bought it on a Thursday night and after a little practice was able to drive it to and from work in rush hour traffic on Monday. Sure I stalled every now and then for the first month. But now I"m a pro. And I can barely drive an automatic tranny now!

4. As for your dad's concerns: With a manual car you are actually "driving" a car....not only do you have more control over what the car does but you also are much much much more alert when driving!!!

Just take your time learning and practicing (patiently!), and it helps if you have a friend who drives stick that can ride with you and give you pointers!

I had narrowed my car choices down between the rsx-s, wrx, and 350z .. and I knew I wanted MT. I didn't know how to drive MT .. except for a quick lesson in a parking lot (going mostly in reverse, no less) that I had a few months ago in my friends little hyundai beater.

My parents kept pushing me to buy auto, my friends pushed me to buy manual. I heard the same reasons from both sides you have. I test drove the WRX barely knowing how to drive MT. I was pretty much given lessons in the car with my dad in the passenger seat and the dealer in the back. I probably scared the dealer I stalled and jerked a few times, but then I got stuck in stop and go traffic on a highway with major construction going on. It was good practice and I wasn't stalling anymore by that point. When i got back to the dealership I was a nervous mess and jumped out of the car as fast as I could, but I stuck with it.

I test drove the 350z later and we wont even talk about that - I did horribly.

I was overall impressed with how well I was able to handle the WRX with only an hour or so of total MT experience in my past. I ended up getting one or 2 more lessons on my friends saturn over the next couple of months, and then my 2006 WRX I ordered came in and I bought it.

I've been driving it off and on a little over a month now. I don't take it into Baltimore city or places I don't feel comfortable yet. I started out driving it only in ideal conditions to and from work, then I started to force myself to take it more places. I have been improving a lot lately .. doing much better on hills (both forward and especially reversing uphill out of my driveway - which I had some trouble with). I have a ways to go still in the learning process, fine tuning how I drive now .. I know I am driving it a little rough because I am new, but I still try to follow the break in rules and do my best to pay attention and learn from my mistakes.

I don't regret my decision to buy MT at all. It's a lot of fun and I feel like it has gained me even more respect It's completely possible to learn on the WRX. Just don't get discouraged. I did a lot of reading online too .. there are guides on driving MT that will give you tips and help you take things even further - like rev matching and double clutching.

I actually let my friend drive my car to the dealership when I first got it to get something corrected .. because I felt like I was too inexperienced to take it as far as the dealership was in the craptabulous stop and go traffic - and he was the one who taught me to drive MT. Well - he stalled out more on that trip than I have total in my entire MT driving experience. I think I would have done a MUCH better job driving the car myself - and i'm an MT n00b.

I just won't ride with my bf yet because he has a bad habit of making fun of his friends when they grind their gears or slip up :-P His loss.

Last edited by Irish.Car.Bomb; 01-03-2006 at 06:24 PM.

- Anna

Wise men say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.

Most definitely!!! It was very intimidating and the stalling out in traffic is definitely embarrassing. Also, it didn't help that everyone constantly told me to watch out when stopping on hills because of the roll-back (which suprisingly doesn't happen much in the WRX...very stable!).

But, it just becomes habit after a little while (just be sure to pick up GOOD habits)!

Well since I was mentioned twice in this thread guess I'll chime in my $.02

1. Get a manual. Period. I couldn't even test drive my WRX or drive it home the day I bought it but I didn't care, everyone told me I would regret not getting a Manual! I definitely would have!

2. The WRX was actually a very easy car to learn on contrary to popular belief. If you start with something easier the WRX will seem that much harder. Sure you'll stall a bit, but with practice you'll be clutching and shifting like a pro. People who think the WRX was hard should try driving a 6speed vette! The first manual I actually ever tried to drive. No way...

3. I've had my car a little over 3 months now. I bought it on a Thursday night and after a little practice was able to drive it to and from work in rush hour traffic on Monday. Sure I stalled every now and then for the first month. But now I"m a pro. And I can barely drive an automatic tranny now!

4. As for your dad's concerns: With a manual car you are actually "driving" a car....not only do you have more control over what the car does but you also are much much much more alert when driving!!!

Just take your time learning and practicing (patiently!), and it helps if you have a friend who drives stick that can ride with you and give you pointers!

If you're not shifting, you're just riding.

don't forget that it rained the first xx days you bought the car.....haha i remember when you were so reluctant to get a manual, glad we got another convert...

Think control!

The first time I heard of manual, I thought it was a joke. I was thinking, "why buy something that takes more work to drive?" Then a few months ago I sat in my friends new modded VW Golf GTI show car (he wrecked it already and is planning to get another or a WRX(I'm pushing him to get the WRX!!!! ))and it changed everything. The control of a manual is unmatched! I drive a auto hyundai tiburon gt and it's decent and I got it to the point where my foot can control the gears fairly well. I know somewhat how much to press it down to down shift in certain gears. But when I think about it, I wasted more time to get that down then it would to simply get a manual and learn to drive stick. My car does have that shiftronic thing or whatever but changing gears WHILE having gas down feels extremely weird even when I have driven a manual only once in my life. I still don't understand how auto works cause it seems like I start in second gear cause it kinda feels like I downshift when I floor it at a stop or 5ish mph roll.

BTW, Sometimes I have to completely let go of the gas and litteraly slam on it again to down shift to first or second.

With the braking, my friend brakes by simply using only the brake till about 10 mph then pushes in the clutch. I don't know how bad that is for the car but braking with your engine and brakes has got to be better then one or the other.

I haven't decided on specifics yet but I can honestly say this. the WRX *WILL* be my next car. Manual.

I just need to find ways to practice manual, the only friend I know who has MT is moving to houston for college. Damn it, suck ass timing. But i'll squeeze a lesson or two from him soon before he leaves.

I haven't decided on specifics yet but I can honestly say this. the WRX *WILL* be my next car. Manual.

I just need to find ways to practice manual, the only friend I know who has MT is moving to houston for college. Damn it, suck ass timing. But i'll squeeze a lesson or two from him soon before he leaves.

After getting comfortable, then I'll go get the rex.

If you can't find someone else, I would recommend having one of your parents rent a standard trans for you to practice on.

Most definitely!!! It was very intimidating and the stalling out in traffic is definitely embarrassing. Also, it didn't help that everyone constantly told me to watch out when stopping on hills because of the roll-back (which suprisingly doesn't happen much in the WRX...very stable!). But, it just becomes habit after a little while (just be sure to pick up GOOD habits)!

Stall-out free since November '05.

I have on ocasion stalled backing into my driveway with the sound system up loud.

vBulletin Message

Errors

The following errors occurred with your submission

Quick Reply

Register Now

Please enter the name by which you would like to log-in and be known on this site.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Email Address:

Please enter a valid email address for yourself. We strongly suggest that you stay away from using aol, yahoo, msn, and hotmail accounts. Sometimes the mail server blocks the emails from our server. As a result you will not receive any notifications including the confirmation email.

Insurance:

Please select your insurance company (Optional)

Log-in

User Name:

Password:

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.